C72 (1/2)
Under the escort of the Ninth Tiger King's and the Tenth Tiger King's forces, the Fire Phoenix Expeditionary Army ran for three consecutive days. In a single breath, they arrived at the southernmost area of the Ninth Tiger King's territory before stopping.
This place was already within the boundaries of the Wulian Mountain Range. Large and small hills densely covered this place, and some of them even became small mountains that stretched all the way to the Wulian Mountain Range.
On a gentle slope, thirty or so unattended food carts were parked, and beside them, twenty sheep were leisurely grazing. Although there were no words left behind, it was not hard to guess whose territory this was and who had arrived here first.
The Xiu'er smiled slightly, gently ruffling the hair that had fallen in front of her forehead, and said: ”It's getting late, let's set up camp and rest here, we will officially enter the Demonic King Valley tomorrow!”
While the soldiers were in their tents, Chen Chu, Qu Feizhi, along with the Fat Cui, went to Xiu'er's side. Ever since the Xiu'er came back, the army had been marching day and night, and had not had the time to inquire about the experiences of those few days with the Xiu'er. Now that they finally had half a day's worth of free time, the few officers naturally wanted to take care of their Commander.
Xiu'er called for the few of them to sit down as she lightly flipped the roasted sheep on the shelf. From time to time, she sprinkled some seasonings onto the roasted sheep. She had roasted fish on the boat with her parents a few years ago, and then had wandered out on her own afterwards. The art of barbeque had become her unique skill. Chen Chu and the other three were currently gathered. Whether they were concerned about the greater proportion of officers, or took the opportunity to eat more, it was really hard to say.
Xiu'er casually sprinkled some seasoning on the roasted lamb, and the meat immediately began to emit sizzling sounds. A rich fragrance suddenly arose, and followed the smoke that ignited into the air to float away. Without waiting for the four of them to speak, Xiu'er asked, ”Do you want to eat first or talk first?”
”Eat first!” Chen Chu, Qu Feizhi, and strong man's attitudes were very resolute. Only the Fat Cui who didn't know the method could not help but say, ”Why don't we chat first?”
What happened next made Fat Cui regret so much that he wanted to die. The three Fire Phoenix Army senior officer s thanked him at the same time, and then, they tore off a lamb leg for themselves. Qu Feizhi considerately tore off one of his front legs and passed it to Xiu'er, leaving behind Fat Cui who looked like a naked roasted lamb and wanted to cry but had no tears to shed. ~ Qu Feizhi indicated to Fat Cui, ”Let's eat and chat first, you chat first, we only have our mouths shut, we can still hear you.”
Xiu'er smiled as she handed the lamb leg in her hand over to the red-faced Fat Cui. Then, she stretched out her slender hand and slowly tore strips of meat from the sheep's body and placed it in her mouth. Fat Cui was embarrassed at first, but seeing how the three of them were looking at the lamb leg in his hands with ill intent, and thinking that the three of them could fight better than him, he did not care about being inferior to them, and started to eat in a bored manner with his head down. He originally wanted to be a little more reserved, but after taking the first bite, he just couldn't stop. He ate up the entire lamb leg in one breath, and finally had time to pick up the jug of wine that someone had put down and gulp down a big mouthful.
Seeing that the group was almost done eating, Xiu'er also began her narration. Not to mention that she was being extremely cautious, she only mentioned that she had gone to Lord Messenger of God to negotiate some conditions with him and promised him some ”unequal treaties”. For example, she would release some of the Black Cove captives after returning to their country and would give them some gold and silver as compensation. This was in exchange for the result of letting his brothers leave.
Seeing the four of them with their faces full of doubt, the Xiu'er was helpless in her heart, what could she say? To tell them the truth, the imperial family of the Fire Phoenix Empire is actually the bloodline of a foreign Demonic Beast, and you have always been ruled by them. I have the blood of the Beast God in my veins. Everyone, resist the Fire Phoenix Empire with me and help Mo Qiu unify the continent!
If they did not believe him, they would not treat him as a lunatic. Even until now, Xiu'er herself still believed him half-way. When he had fallen into the Beast God's tomb, the divine beast Taotieh had indeed saved him and helped him increase his own strength by quite a bit. However, this could only prove that the Beast God existed and it could not prove that the Fire Phoenix Empire royal family was of the fire phoenix bloodline, nor that the fire phoenix was from a different realm. Furthermore, this Lord Messenger of God was hostile to him in the first place. Whether or not he wanted to use him to subvert the Fire Phoenix Empire from the inside was unknown. Since there were so many uncertainties, the Xiu'er would naturally not tell everyone what Chen Tianming had said from the beginning.
Seeing the Xiu'er's attitude, the few of them did not say anything more. After sitting for a while, they bade farewell and left. As the Acting Marshal, Chen Chu naturally had some matters to attend to with the Xiu'er, so he left a little too late. After the two of them finished talking about their work, Chen Chu turned and left. Suddenly, he whispered two words into Xiu'er's ears: ”Qiong Qi?”
When Xiu'er heard this, her body trembled, she could no longer conceal the surprise in her eyes. Let alone the fact that she herself had never said the word Qiong Qi, even among the Moqiu State people who knew about Divine Beast Qiong Qi, very few were. Everyone only knew the Beast God and her, and didn't even know their names, not to mention that the Beast God actually had two or should have said something like the four of them being from the Primordial Era. But how did Chen Chu, a citizen of the Fire Phoenix, know about it? Could it be that this layer of identity gave him other sources of information? Was there really an information source that could reach Chen Tianming's side? Could it be one of the Tiger King s?
Seeing the change in Xiu'er's expression, Chen Chu suddenly laughed, and bowed to him in an extremely gentlemanly manner: ”Lord Xiu, can you give me your face and let me take a walk with you?”
Xiu'er nodded her head in agreement, she casually picked up her cloak and followed Chen Chu out of the tent.
They had set up camp early, and at this time, the sun had just set in the west. Under the contrast of the dark green Wulian Mountain Range, the red setting sun looked especially soft and beautiful. Chen Chu picked a patch of grass and took off his jacket with great care, spreading it on the ground. Only then did he invite Xiu'er to sit.
After settling down, Chen Chu turned his head slightly to look at Xiu'er, and asked: ”Lord Xiu, do you remember why I was once called the current Her Majesty's fiancé?”
Xiu'er was stunned for a moment before replying, ”I remember it. Back then, didn't they say that you grew up together with the previous Prince and were now childhood friends?”
Chen Chu smiled bitterly, ”The first half of my words are true, the second half is merely the habitual thought of a normal person. In fact, the reason the first Prince adopted me was because he had a guilty conscience. Furthermore, after adopting me, he didn't live with the current Her Majesty for too long, but instead trained me everyday to accomplish the things he dreamed of doing in his heart. ”
Chen Chu's surname was Luo, and he was the descendant of one of the three great clans of the Empire's Luo Family. Amongst the Empire's three great clans, the Shu Family possessed the courage to show their strength, and the Zhan Family possessed the martial veins. Their Luo Family, however, had always been unknown, and they did not usually participate in the Empire's affairs. In addition to the fact that there were very few people in this family, in the eyes of outsiders, Luo Family had already slowly declined. In fact, only those in the upper echelons of the empire would know that Luo Family had never declined. They were a part of the empire's true strength, because Luo Family was in charge of the empire's intelligence network.